How fast do you think the top players could run a 5k?

The truth is that high level sports is about specialism. I was a little surprised that Murray said he ran close to a 57 second 400m all out (which is pretty poor) - meaning his capabilities at 400m have probably already dropped significantly from his likely capabilities at 100m. The 5k might be even more surprising.
.

Click to expand...

Wow 57 second 400m is pretty poor, considering Murray is suppose to be one of these in incredible shape ATP players. Heck I ran a 57 s 400 m when I was 14 years old and was the slowest guy on our freshman 4 x 400m relay team.

Wow 57 second 400m is pretty poor, considering Murray is suppose to be one of these in incredible shape ATP players. Heck I ran a 57 s 400 m when I was 14 years old and was the slowest guy on our freshman 4 x 400m relay team.

Click to expand...

Ok, could you have hung with Nole for 5 sets and 5 hours at the age of 14? I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that you could not.

Like Moz said, sports is about specialism. Murray isn't "supposed" to be in incredible shape-- he pretty clearly is in incredible shape for tennis.

Congrats... and could you have hung with Nole for 5 sets and 5 hours at the age of 14? I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that you could not.

.

Click to expand...

Congrats you made an illogical inference. I am going to go out on a limb an say logic is not one of your strong points. I was just simply affirming that 57 second is a slow 400 m time even for a non elite athlete. There are a lot adult males that can run 400m under 57 seconds - alot. It is not something that takes specialized training. It is a pretty unimpressive time a professional athlete of almost any sport. Kapeesh?

Gotcha, sorry about that, guess I was led astray by your calling Murray "supposedly" in incredible shape. Seems like the lesson here is that there's no single benchmark to measure the "shape"that a pro athlete is in...

Murray seems to have a tennis specific body type, something he's worked on since the beginning.
Carrying those big calves, like DJ might not be the best for long distance running.
Can Kohlshreiber beat Murray in a distance running race? I'd think so.
Ferrer is really fast on court, but maybe not for longer distances.
Seems a dearth of long lean, runner builds in tennis....maybe because they don't change directions all that well.

57 seconds isn't horrible either. I bet you guys can't run that fast. Realize that keeping that up four times would be a sub-4 minute mile. If he ran 90 second 400s, he'd run a 18:39 5k. I'm letting him run at nearly 1/2 of his all out 400 speed and he could do that! Sub 20 minutes is a sure bet if he had to do it.

As stated, these guys are built for endurance and not speed. That is why I believe they could run a 5k in under 20 minutes easily.

Body type? Are you guys serious? Have you ever been to a 5k, 10k, or a marathon? Have you seen the weekend warrior runners? There are plenty of sub-20 minute 5ks from plenty of non-looking runner types and certainly not elite athletes.

I've seen tall, short, fat, skinny, young, old, odd strides, perfect strides, and they all have one thing in common.....DESIRE. Running is more about desire than anything else. It is about toughness and guts. It's about wanting to beat the next guy in front of you and not getting passed by the ones behind you. DESIRE! We aren't talking about breaking the record which is roughly 12 minutes and 26 seconds. We're talking about going out and running 1 minute and 35 second 400s. Very doable.

Seriously.....Who says 57 seconds isn't fast? I just looked up the local track honor roll for high school from a quick Internet search. 49.97 seconds got you on it and I can tell you that a kid who attended the high school I teach at was on there at 49.64 seconds and he is running for Ohio State on scholarship. These were the best times in the area throughout the track season. In case you want to bash Ohio State's team, keep in mind they have a tradition of excellent runners such as Butch Reynolds or Jessie Owens. I'd like to see a lot of guys go out and time/video themselves trying to run sub 1 minute 400s. It's not going to happen! Yes. There are many good athletes who can do it but it's not for the average guy either.

Next, we'll all be posting how we hit 120mph serves and how it is easy to do. I'm not doing that search as I'm sure the thread is here somewhere.

Murray's fitness and physique has been spoken about as if it's at some mythical level for too long imo. He is a great athlete but the fact they have gone out of their way to tell us how tough he is when, out of the top four, it's him who looks the most haggard and starts getting sloppy with his movement/execution the quickest is a little amusing. The amount of times I've seen him blunder points because he was run ragged compared to Federer, Nadal or Djokovic (2.0) is tenfold more.

That said, each body has its traits which aid aspect of physical ability but may hinder another - if even slightly. I personally think he's on the big side for a modern tennis player in the legs. This will be of benefit for some things but certainly can have its down side too.

Imagine the competitors running the 5 km by running back and forth from one side of a tennis court to the other. I''ll take Ferrer over any standard 5km runner. Am I right?

Click to expand...

You are right.

So far as running goes I used to, on occasion, join my running friends for a run. From my tennis alone (the only cardio I'd do) I could outrun them easily in the first 45 mins - my normal jogging pace was too high for them to sustain and be comfortable. After that however they would get into a groove which I couldn't match - only by a small amount though. I put some of down to lack of that sort of conditioning but also because running per se did nothing for me enjoyment-wise. If I ran the first 45-odd mins at their pace I usually felt like I was only doing a warm-up for the first half hour.

57 seconds isn't horrible either. I bet you guys can't run that fast. Realize that keeping that up four times would be a sub-4 minute mile. If he ran 90 second 400s, he'd run a 18:39 5k. I'm letting him run at nearly 1/2 of his all out 400 speed and he could do that! Sub 20 minutes is a sure bet if he had to do it.

Seriously.....Who says 57 seconds isn't fast? I just looked up the local track honor roll for high school from a quick Internet search. 49.97 seconds got you on it and I can tell you that a kid who attended the high school I teach at was on there at 49.64 seconds and he is running for Ohio State on scholarship. These were the best times in the area throughout the track season. In case you want to bash Ohio State's team, keep in mind they have a tradition of excellent runners such as Butch Reynolds or Jessie Owens. I'd like to see a lot of guys go out and time/video themselves trying to run sub 1 minute 400s. It's not going to happen! Yes. There are many good athletes who can do it but it's not for the average guy either.

Next, we'll all be posting how we hit 120mph serves and how it is easy to do. I'm not doing that search as I'm sure the thread is here somewhere.

Click to expand...

Your comparisons are illogical and don't make sense. You have no concept of times and running comparisons. 400m is a long sprint and you are running it once. Why would you compare an all out sprint to split times in a long distance race and try to draw conclusions about it?

Comparing it to 49 second 400m is ridiculous. In a 400m an 8 second win is huge margin. That would be like comparing a 10.0 sec. 100m sprinter to 12.0sec sprinter. One is world class the other is below average for high school varsity.

It is not even close to comparison to a 120 mph serve. In any typical high school. In most typical high schools there are probably 0-1 people who could hit a 120 mph serve. In your average public high school there are at least 50+ who could run subminute 400m and some of those would be girls.

57 seconds is not poor at all. not great but not poor, especially for a Tennis Player.

It is also a myth that distance runners are slow. People always say that sprinting and running are totally different things but generally if you are fast you are fast.

olympic track distance runners are fast as hell. the great Said Aouita who was a 5K world record holder could run the hundred Sub 11 and 400 Sub 47. without a good kick in the end you are not going to win a 5K or even 10K at the highest Level.

Going to run a 5k fun run with my gf in April. Did it with her last year and she blew up on the 4 steep hills 183hr on the way out and on the way back. She ran one at her job and only ran it in 31mins on a hot humid day with a hilly course. I checked out marathonguide.com. They said based on my marathon times I could run it in 18:24 which I doubt very much since I never have raced that distance. I think I could run it about 19:25-20:58. I think I would have to have my hr about 181-183.

This thread inspired me to time myself in a 5k around the Rose Bowl last week. I keep in pretty good shape with some longer runs, some interval work, running up mountains, and some weights. I've been too busy lately to train often or even play tennis much, so when I work out I try to aim for short intense workouts.

Anyway, I pushed myself pretty hard and got a 20:45 which I was pretty happy with! It's only about 2 minutes off my times from high school when I was training much more consistently.

57 seconds is not poor at all. not great but not poor, especially for a Tennis Player.

It is also a myth that distance runners are slow. People always say that sprinting and running are totally different things but generally if you are fast you are fast.

olympic track distance runners are fast as hell. the great Said Aouita who was a 5K world record holder could run the hundred Sub 11 and 400 Sub 47. without a good kick in the end you are not going to win a 5K or even 10K at the highest Level.

Click to expand...

Almost by definition top track athletes are far above average runners. But still, Said Aouita is slow compared to Usain Bolt, though he is much faster than most of us.

The 400 meters is a brutal race. I've run it twice competitively in my life and I probably won't again. At the time, I could run under 11 seconds in the 100 meters, but mid way through the 300meter mark rigor mortis started setting in and I'm surprised I made it to the finish. You need to pace yourself on the 400 to do it well.

Almost by definition top track athletes are far above average runners. But still, Said Aouita is slow compared to Usain Bolt, though he is much faster than most of us.

The 400 meters is a brutal race. I've run it twice competitively in my life and I probably won't again. At the time, I could run under 11 seconds in the 100 meters, but mid way through the 300meter mark rigor mortis started setting in and I'm surprised I made it to the finish. You need to pace yourself on the 400 to do it well.